Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1887-12-17

y
through the first act, he stopped, and looked |
at his brother. "What does she mean by |
boosting of this as her own inventionT he |
asked. @Was she too crazy to remember that |
these things really happenedr
This was enough for Henry; the same i'm |
preston had been produced on both of them.
aYou will do as you please" he said. "But IL
you will be guided by me, spare yourself the
reading of those pages to come, which de-
scribe our brothers terrible expiation OF his
heartless marriage"
@Have you read it all, Henryg"
sNot all. ! shrunk from reading some OF
the latter part of it. Neither you nor saw
much of our elder brother after we left
school; and for my part, felt. and never
scruped to express my feeling, that he be-
haved UNANIMOUSLY to Agnes. When read
that unconscious confession of the murderous
conspiracy to which he fell victim, l re-
membered, with something like remorse, that
the same mother bore us. have felt for him
tonight, what am ashamed to think never
felt for him before
Lord Montbarry took his brothers hand
"You are good fellow, Henry he said;
"but are you quite sure that you have not
been needlessly distressing yourselfa Because
some of this crazy creatures writings acct
dentally tells what we know to be the truth,
does it follow that all the rest is to be relied
on to the ends" ..
"There is no possible doubt of it" Henry
replied
t'No possible doubtsH his brother repeated.
81 shall go on with my reading, Henry-and
ses what justification there may be for that
confident conclusion of yours
He read on steadily until he had reached
the conclusion of the second act. Then be
looked up.
'Do you really believe that the mutilated
remains which you discovered this morning
are the remains of our brotherl' be asked.
"And do you believe it on such evidence as
thisI'
Henry answered silently by sign in thu
affirmative. 4
Lord Montbarry checked himself levi
IDENTIFY on the point of entering an indignant
protest
"You acknowledge that you have not read
the later scenes OF the piece, he said. Don't
be childish, Henry. If you persist in pinning
your faith on such stuff as this the least you
can do is to make yourself thoroughly ac-
| quainted with it, viii you read the third
act! MOI Then shall read it to you"
| He turned to the third act, and ran DER
those fragmentary passages which were
clearly enough expressed to be Ineligible to
the mind of stranger.
| Here is a scene in the vaults of the palace"
he began. "The victim of the conspiracy Is
sleeping on his miserable bed and the baron
| and the countess are considering the position
In which they stand. The countess las well
as can make it OUT has raised the money
that is wanted by borrowing On the security
of her jewels at Frankfort; and the courier
up stairs is still declared by the doctor to
have chance Of recovery. What are the
conspirators to do If the man does recoveri
The cautious baron suggests setting the pris-
oner free. If he ventures to appeal to the
law it is easy to declare that he is subject to
insane delusiun and to call his own wife as a
witness. On the other hand, il the courier
dies, how is the sequestrated and unknown
nobleman to be put out of the wayi Pass
lively, by letting him starve in his prison.
No; the baron is man of refined tastes; he
dislikes needless cruelty The active policy
remains. Say, assassination by the knife OF
hired bravol The baron objects to trusting
an accomplice; also to spending money on
any one but himself. Shall they drop theii
prisoner into the canalf The baron declines
to trust whitewater will show him on the
surface. Snail they set his bed on tlre} Al
excellent idea; but the smoke might be seen
No; poisoning is no doubt an easier death
than he deserves, but there is really no othel
safe way out of it than to poison him Is il
possible, Henry, that you believe this consul
tation really took placet"
Henry made no replay. The succession O.
questions that had just been read to him ex
! actly followed the succession of the dream
that had terrified Mrs. Norbury on the TIVE
nights which she had passed at the hotel
was useless to point out this coincidence t.
his brother. He only said, $50 on"
Lord Montbarry turned the pages until b.
came to the next Ineligible passage.
Here he proceeded, ''is double scene Of
the stage, so far as l can understand tn
sketch Of it. The doctor is up stairs, limo
Gently writing the certificate of my lord
decease, by the dead courier's bedside. Dow
; in the vault the baron stands by the corps
of the murdered lord, preparing the stron
chemical acids which are TO reduce it to
heap of ashes. Surely, it is not worth Will
to trouble ourselves with deciphering sue
melodramatic horrors as these Let US &c
onl let us get on"
He turned the leaves again; attempte
t vainly to discover the meaning Of the COL
= fused scenes that followed. On the last pag
e but one he found the last Ineligible SCI
S fences.
= "The third act" he said, seems to be div
; ded into two parts or tableaus think ca
g read the writing at the beginning of the set
:, ond part The baron and the countess Ope
l ths scene. The baron's hands are myster
g ously concealed by gloves. He has reduce
= the body to ashes by his own system of cr'
n nation, with the exception of the head
+ Henry interrupted his brother Their
e "Don't read any morel" he exclaimed.
0 Let US do the countess Justice" Lor
/ Montbarry persisted There are not ha
= dozen lines more that l can make out. tt
accidental breaking of his jar of acid hi
8 burned the baron's hands severely. He
= still unable to proceed to the destruction
8 the head, and the countess is woman enoug
with all her wickednessl to shrink from a
o 4 tempting to take his place-when the fir
: news is received of the coming arrival Of Il
s commission of inquiry dispatched by the ii
s surance offices. The baron feels no alarm
Q Inquire as the commission may, it is the ma
n ural death OF the courier Tin my lords cha
9 acter) that they are blindly investigating
e The head not being destroyed, the obvio1
s | alternative is to hide it-and the baron
s equal to the occasion. His studies in the o
8 library have informed him of a safe place
t ooncealment in the palace The counte
t may recoil from handling the acids al
n watching the process of cremation, but 81
s can surely sprinkle little disinfecting po'
; DER
e mo more!' Henry reiterated "No more
o "There is no more that can be read, n
N dear fellow. The last page looks like she
, delirium She may well have told you tn
It her invention had failed herr"
II @Face the truth honestly, Stephen-and s.
z her memory
n Lord Montbarry rose from the table
which he had been sitting, and looked at
e brother with plying eyes.
n @Your nerves are out OF order, Henry
said. "And no wonder, after that fright
d discovery under the hearthstone We wol
a. dispute about it; we will wait day or t,
z until you are quite yourself again. In t
T. meantime, let us understand each other
- one point at least. You leave the question
B. what is to be done with these pages Of VIZ
10 ing to me, as the head of the familyF
% II do.D
70 Lord Montbarry quietly took up the man
% script and threw it into the fire. "Let Il
10 rubbish be Of some use," he said, holding t
pages down with the poker. 1.-THE room
getting chIlly-let the countess play set sol
4 - ,lxz L.. a y,